Bumper Stickers, a great idea

Published on July 19, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, Labels, Printing and Promtional products. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I came up with the idea of bumper stickers back in 2002. http://www.Customizedstickers.com was the website we were happy to take as we thought someone would have had this already. A good friend of mine actually came up with the idea for a stickers website. His name is Matthew Bridges. I noticed allot of printers were selling bumper stickers and stickers in only 1 and 2 colors. Matthew basically said to me that I should sell full color bumper stickers at the same price that printers were selling for 1 and 2 colors.

Not only this but we also added free artwork and free set-up. The set up price other printers were charging was like $50 and over. Also, they were charging $60 an hour to design artwork. By adding the free artwork we saved clients allot of money and headache. Some poeple have greta ideas but arent sure how to put it on paper.

Another idea we came up with was to come up with a good phone number. 1800 STICKERS  was great as our clients could give referrals to their friend with a phone number that is easy to remember.

We have been doing bumper stickers for nearfly 8 years now and we are finding more and more people are finding them useful as a promotional tool and creating awareness.

Setting up bumper sticker artwork

Published on July 14, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, General, Labels, Printing, Promtional products and Screen Printing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Handy tips when designing from scratch – Part 5.

The best way to enlarge / resize your artwork.

With any type of artwork for printed media it’s the usual case of bigger is better. A clearer file will always give you a clearer end product. However if you’re struggling to find a high resolution file here’s a great Photoshop tip that will help rescue your bumper stickers.

At CustomizedStickers.com we use this trick a lot especially when clients provide us with smaller low resolution.  Although we do offer free artwork services for stickers, many clients still prefer to use their own graphics. In many cases these are images from their websites or logos that have been provided to them in the past. These types of web styles graphics are purposely made smaller so they load faster on the internet. This is great for your website, but not necessarily great for all the things you need printed. This is always worth a try before discarding what you have on file.
In most part this is practically the same as you’d already know how to resize in Photoshop.
Firstly open your file in Photoshop and from the Menu bar select: Image > Image Size.

Then tick “Resample Image” & up bump up the resolution to 300dpi & resize the image to the dimensions you need.

Next is the most important part, before you click OK to finish the job, drop down just below “Resample Image” and select “Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement)”. This one simple step will help smooth out the entire image much better than the default option Photoshop give you.

Next time you’re enlarging any image try both options and you’ll soon see what a difference this can make.

Setting up bumper sticker artwork.

Published on June 27, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, General, Printing and Promtional products. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Handy tips when designing from scratch – Part 4.

Keeping fonts & type intact.
A big misconception when clients are designing stickers is that if a font is visible in Word, Excel or even Outlook then everyone has the same fonts too. This would be very handy and make life easy for everyone, but unfortunately it doesn’t work this way. In actual fact all fonts as re system independent and each computer can vary depending on the different types of software installed.

Sure if you’re running the same version of Windows that you’ll have same core system fonts as the next person, but what about the rest. You may have 1000 fonts, but the next person may have 800 different to you. If you’ve used some unique or fancy font for your design & emailed it to another person, more than likely they won’t be able to see or use what you had in mind.

So here are a few suggestions to keep things intact, depending on what software you’re using. As always save an original copy of your file if you need to go back and edit anything.

Photoshop – Rasterize Type. Simply right-click on any layers containing type and this will transform them to a shape.

Illustrator / Indesign – Convert Fonts to Outlines. Select all font layers / items and then apply.

Word 2007 – Embed fonts. Click the Microsoft Office Button. Click Word Options.

On the Save tab, click to select the Embed fonts in the file check box. The only catch with this is that your file will increase in size when emailing.

Other programs have similar functions, but give you the same result.
Lastly one other handy tip, keep all your text at least 5pt in size. This will ensure that all the type on your bumper sticker will print legibly. Many clients try to squeeze paragraphs of type on a very small space without realizing the scale of things. Imagine trying to fit a newspaper article on a postage stamp, sure it can happen on screen when you zoom in, but on your final printed product this won’t happen.

Setting up bumper sticker artwork

Published on June 7, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, General, Labels, Printing and Promtional products. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Handy tips when designing bumper stickers from scratch – Part 3.

Quick photo fix – When your photos are too dark or light.

Howdy! The following quick tips are an easy way to improve your favorite photos that just don’t quite seem to be there yet. These techniques may also rescue the unusable artwork and are always worth a shot. Even when a client sends me an awesome photo for print these can be applied. When I design their bumper stickers or labels, I sometimes brighten photos 5 – 10% to help boost the final product.

When things seem too dark or over shadowed.

Open your photo in PhotoShop. Duplicate a copy of your photo onto a separate layer. Change the blending mode of the copied layer to “Screen”. As soon as you do this your photo will look ultra bright,  so use the opacity sliders and bring it back to where things look sensible. This could vary for every photo, but always dial it down until things look okay. A handy way to judge this is always look for references in the photo. For example, are shadows disappearing when I go too high? Or do white walls or ceilings still look too gray?

When things seem too bright or exposed.

A similar technique applies. Open your photo in PhotoShop. Duplicate a copy onto a separate layer, however change the blending mode of the copied layer to “Multiply”. As soon as you do this you’ll see your photo darken. Again use the opacity sliders to find the right spot.

These extra couple of steps can really make the difference. There are many ways to do this, some more complex than others, but none as easy or fast as this. Give it a try next time.

Stickers for schools

Published on June 7, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, Printing and Promtional products. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Stickers are also an effective way to promote schools. I’m sure you have seen these kinds of stickers, “My son is an honor roll student at Texas Junior School” These are great to give to your children. This gives them a sense of pride and achievement. It also is great advertising for schools as they are seen as caring about your kids education.

As well as this, you can simply sell stickers which may say, “My kids attend such and such school”  By doing this you raise money for your school simply by selling stickers to all the students. The stickers may only cost 50 cents yet you can sell them for $2. Quite a nice profit.

There are lots of ways that stickers can help your school in raising funds and awerenss. We at  Customizedstickers.com can help you with your design. Simply e-mail us your logo and we will take care of the rest.

Setting up bumper sticker artwork

Published on June 1, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, General, Labels, Printing and Promtional products. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Handy tips when designing bumper stickers from scratch – Part 2.

 

Ensuring consistent black & gray tones.

Howdy, just continuing with some tips for developing a professional looking bumper sticker.
When designing for print, it’s all about consistency. What you’re creating something on screen, you’re hoping that it will print just the same. So today I wanted to brush up on the importance of adjusting black and gray shades so they actually print as black and gray shades.

With full color CMYK printing, different percentages of K (black Ink) are used to darken any color.

If you use 100%K that means you’re making black. When you’re using lower percentages of K you’re making shades of gray. One common mistake, especially when converting a black / gray shade from RGB or Pantone is to simply leave the default values your software gives you. For many types of printing this may well work, but when you want to keep you artwork streamline it’s always better to use clean K values. This will keep things looking the same regardless of what type of material or press.

For example let’s say on a logo you end up with a gray shade with values: C 22/M 23/Y 24/K 0

On screen it appears as a light gray color, on certain machines it might print gray, but the bottom line is that you haven’t used any black ink to produce a gray color. This is known as composite gray. There are small percentages or Cyan, Magenta & Yellow and they give you a dark shade, but what shade is it really? On certain presses this could simply give you a dull, murky color, more of a mistake as opposed to something you’ve planned. In this case I would convert the color to 30%K.

There may be some software to do this automatically, but I preferred to do this manually with a few different media. Some people simply go by the eye. Some people use Pantone books. Some people use previously printed material or even a combination of all these things. Really, it’s finding the right method that suits you and sticking with it. Don’t worry, if you’re struggling to adjust these colors, the artwork team here at CustomizedStickers.com can always do these types of conversions for you. One way to simplify the process it to keep all your layers intact so we can dissect the artwork if need be.

All the above will help you setting up your bumper sticker artwork.

Stickers, where can I put them?

Published on May 31, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, General, Labels, Printing, Promtional products and Screen Printing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

The biggest advantage of stickers is that they are visible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While other promotional products are sometimes hidden, the stickers are there for the world to see. They can be placed on the bumpers of your car, the rear window of your car, the side window of your car and even on the front window. A car is constantly moving so it is basically a moving billboard. Whether you are at the shopping mall, sporting event, eating out, the sticker  will be visible to anyone who comes close to your car.

Other places stickers can be used are political events. The most common theme is to put the sticker on your t shirt. For example, vote Tom Smith. As you will be talking to lots of people on the day of the event, it is a great way to start a conversation or a way of showing who you support. It is cheap and effective. A sticker could be 20 or 30 cents. On these events, you aren’t really going to be going around handing out fridge magnets  or pens to people. Therefore, a sticker is a great promotional tool that is visible and inexpensive.

Stickers are also used allot by bands. They hand out them out at shows. Their fans put them on lockers, their cars, bags, cubicles, anywhere that people are able to see them. Some of our clients include them when they sell their CDs. People love free gifts so a sticker with a CD is a great way to have your fans advertise for you for free. For 30 cents, it is once again cheap and effective.

Service companies are big users of stickers. If someone is doing the air conditioning in your home, they geneally leave the sticker near the main box. If in a couple of years you need to remember who installed your air con, all you do is go to the sticker instead of going to the Yellow Pages. This blocks competitors from taking over your current clients. I never remember who installs anything so if they have a sticker, I will call that number right away. It is just plain common sense but allot of people actually forget this. They give you an invoice and simply leave. A customer should be for life, not a one off deal. They can give you referrals and more cash in your pocket.

Another tricky way to improve your direct mail is by placing a sticker on the envelope. Each day we all get lots of mail that we simply put in the bin because we think it is unsolicited. However, if you put a sticker on there saying, “20% off” or “VIP membership”, more often than not, people will open the envelope just to see what its all about. How many times have you seen stickers on envelopes? Not many I bet. Therefore, you can stand out from the crowd by doing this. I have done this many times with great success.

Lately we have seen an explosion in boutique wine companies. These are companies who may just manufacture 2000 bottles of wine a year. They are using full color stickers to make their product look expensive. People judge allot of products by packaging so you need to look professional. You cannot expect to sell a $100 bottle of wine with a cheap black and white sticker. It needs to be colorful and eye-catching.

Perfume and other beauty cream companies are also using stickers heavily as well. In the old days, you could only print full color stickers in very large quantities to keep the costs down. However, technology has changed rapidly so you are able to produce these stickers at a much better rate now.

As you can see, stickers can be used in so many ways. I could propbably add another 20 sticker ideas but I think you get the idea.

Setting up bumper sticker artwork

Published on May 26, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, Labels, Printing, Promtional products and Screen Printing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Handy tips when designing Bumper Stickers from scratch – Part 1.

 

I’ve seen so many great designs come through our company. There have been some very creative clients I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years. However, regardless of how talented some people are, unfortunately their final concepts are still lacking that edge. And sadly most of the time it comes down to only a few small omissions that needed to be there from the start.  With only a few simple steps you can have the difference between something generic and a fantastic bumper sticker!
At CustomizedStickers.com we want you to be proud to use your bumper stickers & labels wherever they may be. So if you want to put your ideas to print, here are a few easy tips to get you on your way.

-          Start your canvas at 300dpi.
If you’re working with software like Photoshop, it’s essential to begin with a 300dpi (dots per inch) canvas for print. If you want a crystal clear sticker, it needs to be high resolution file. Professional printers will always recommend using files which are at least a 300dpi. Even in the future if you plan to use your design / logo for the web, create your original layered file for print and export a low resolution file for your website (72dpi or similar). More information on DPI and resolution can be found here: DPI.

 

-          Start in CMYK color mode.
Without getting technical, computer monitors & screens use combinations of light signals to make colors, whereas printing presses use combinations of inks. In saying this, when designing for print always create your new document in CMYK color mode. This will ensure the printing press can get your colors close to what you’re seeing on screen. A common trap many of our clients fall into is creating artwork in RGB colors and wondering why certain shades will not transfer to their printed bumper stickers. This is not a limitation, but rather an understanding of how two different processes work. More information between the two can be found here: CMYK / RGB.

-          Adding a bleed area.
In printing terms, bleed simply means excess background. A bleed area is extra pieces you include that will ultimately be trimmed away. Yes this does sound like a waste of time, but bleed is always used when cutting or guillotining your final bumper sticker. If you didn’t include a bleed area you have the potential to leave your stickers with unfinished or with white edges. It’s really a precaution, just in case things shift slightly at any stage of production. In a perfect world, ink and guillotines would be precise. 99% of the time they are, but when you’re printing on a machine the length of a small house, you need to leave room for error. 3/32” or 1/8” bleed on ever side of your artwork is usually the case. More information can be found on our artwork specification page or here:  Bleed Area.


We’ll be adding more of this type of thing over time, but if you’d like to see something specific on bumper stickers, please feel free to ask. We’re always here to help J

 

 

Bumper Stickers, how long do they last?

Published on May 24, 2010 in Bumper Stickers, General, Labels, Printing, Promtional products and Screen Printing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Possibly the most frequently asked question that we receive. To give you a little background into this, I will fill you in on a few details. Bumper stickers are generally made so that they can withstand the outdoor elements. Whether you are going through a car wash, or your car is in the rain or hot Arizona desert, your bumper stickers are made to last. They are made of vinyl although some companies pass them off as paper. Any wonder the customer complains. Bumper stickers on paper is a big no no. You will be lucky to get a few weeks out of them.

To further enhance the durability of the vinyl stickers, a gloss laminate is also applied to give them further strength. Bumper stickers placed on your car will last longer if you leave the car in the garage as opposed to leaving it out in the sun all day. Some stickers last for 2 years, some last for 10. It really depends on weather conditions.

Another way to get more life out of your bumper sticker is to clean the surface you are applying it to and dry it before you place it on the bumper or window of your car. Otherwise, they can peel right away due to having lots of dirt underneath them. This simple duty will have a huge effect on the life span of your bumper stickers.

Another interesting point is that the colors red and yellow fade the fastest compared to any other color. I’m not saying not to use these colors but unfortunately, they are the first to fade. Lightfast inks are used to print on the bumper stickers and these 2 colors are the biggest offenders in terms of fading. Blue and black are my favourite as they seem to last the longest in my experince in dealing with bumper stickers.

When buying bumper stickers, always ask the printer “How long will my stickers last for?” Don’t presume that they will last long just because they advertised as bumper stickers. If they sound too cheap, then they generally are. In life, you pay for what you get and that adage is as true with bumper stickers as with anything else. The machine we produce bumper stickers with is a Heidelberg Speedmaster which is a monster. A massive long machine with outstanding printing capabilities.

Designing Bumper Stickers

Published on May 16, 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

A common question I receive is “How do I design a good bumper sticker?”

There are a few essential elements when designing bumper stickers. Firstly, you need a great headline. For example, if you are a non profit business, you may have a headline like “Save the whales”. Immediately, people are aware of your cause and more importantly, it brings a reaction. Furthermore, people are likely to promote your cause.

If someone asks you, “Please make a $2 donation and receive this bumper sticker for save the whales,” you will seriously consider it, as you are raising money for them and also feel proud to display the bumper sticker on your car. If the sticker only had a picture of a whale on there with no headline, you probably would not make a donation let alone put it on your car. A headline should be thought of carefully. The rewards are huge once your target audience begins to notice what you are trying to achieve.

For businesses, a logo is ok but not absolutely essential in my mind. If Im driving behind you, I probably wont see your little logo. However, if you have a large phone number or website, I will definitely see it. Businesses are obsessed with logos but unless you are Pepsi or Walt Disney, I wouldn’t be too fussed about it. A bumper sticker we produced a few years ago said “How is my driving? call 1800 Driving” or something similar to this. It is brilliant because it is straight to the point and easy to remember. No fancy logo or design, just bold and eye catching.

If you are in a soccer club and your logo is “Texas Junior Soccer Club”, that would suffice as long as you had a website down the bottom. Nearly everyone has a website these days yet not everyone advertises them. Reason? I have absolutely no idea. From advertising your website on the sticker, it brings traffic to your website. From there, you can advertise merchandise you are selling, memberships and sponsorships available and so on. Furthermore, it brings pride to your club and your community.

Imagine being at  the game and EVERY one of your supporters has a bumper sticker on their car. The opposition would be envious. It displays professionalism and as always, a great way to raise money for your sporting team whether it be buying equipment or paying for an end of year vacation somewhere.

A graphic designer can help you with creating a bumper sticker. We have graphic designers who also do this for free as part of a bumper sticker order.

Finally, when designing bumper stickers, decide what shape you are after. A standard size for bumper stickers is a 3 x 11.5 rectangle yet some people decide to go for a 3″ circle. The circles are generally placed on windows whereas the rectangles are placed on bumpers. Either way is fine as long as your message is clear and easy to read.